The Midnight Train
by BossVicCossWynch
Summary: Laura has just moved to New York City and finds herself a train buddy named Ross. The two have very different likes and personalities but somehow hit it off very well. AU RAURA STORY.
1. The midnight train going anywhere

Laura ran to track 29 at Grand Central Terminal, pulling her suitcase behind her; rushing to catch the 12:10am train.

She had just moved to New York. She had been hired at FOX online as a sports journalist and she couldn't had been more excited.

Laura loved sports. She grew up going to all sorts of games with her dad.

Her parents divorced when she was 8. Her mother and her older sister moved to Chicago and she chose to stay with her father in Cincinnati.

Her mother was an aspiring actress but never caught her big break. She moved to Chicago to return to her theater roots; taking Laura's sister, who also loved performing, with her.

Laura had always been closer to her father. They just had a special bond. She always felt as if her mother was disappointed in her. She knew her mother preferred her sister over her.

Whenever she would go to visit her mother she would hear about how her sister was going to school for performing arts and got cast in some local commercial. Then she would be asked what she had accomplished; to which she would say that she was still living at home with her dad and enrolled at the University of Cincinnati. She also ran a blog where she would write entries about each sports game she went to. Her mother always had the same reply: "Oh, I guess that's nice". Every time.

Laura didn't mind living with her dad even still at almost 23, a recent college graduate.

Sure, she was looking to find something more, but she was content living at home. I mean they had season tickets to both the reds and the bangles so why would she want to give that up.

But she eventually got a call from FOX sports. They said they had read her blog posts about games that she had been to and they wanted to hire her; which means she was leaving the queen city for the big apple.

She had visited the city a month earlier with her dad to find an apartment. And since living in the city was just so incredibly expensive, she chose to live about 30 minutes outside of the city in White Plains. That way she could afforded a better place and ride the train into work everyday.

Her flight from Cincinnati to New York had landed just over an hour ago. All her other belongings had been shipped to her new place already, she just had her suitcase, her laptop bag, and her purse with her.

She rushed to the track, pulling her heavy suitcase behind her. It was 12:08am, she only had 2 minutes.

She had just purchased her train pass for the first month of living in New York before she ran across the station to get to her track.

She ran down the sloped platform and into the first open door of the train she saw.

She sighed in relief as she entered the train, the cool air hitting her sweaty face.

She made her way down the isle of the train and took in her surroundings.

Since it was so late, there were very few people on the train.

There was a pair of middle aged women having a lively conversation, obviously tourists.

There was a girl who looked to be about her age, fast asleep in her seat.

There was a middle aged man reading a newspaper.

And there was a blonde boy who also looked to be about her age; he had his earbuds in and had a journal on his lap, in which he was mindlessly doodling.

She went to sit across the isle from him since he was sitting on the end of the row of seats near the door, which was where the outlets were located. She needed to charge her phone anyway so she just sat there.

She placed her purse and her computer bag in the seat next to her, then struggled to lift her heavy suitcase onto the rack above the seats.

"Here, let me help you." she heard a voice say.

She turned and saw that the voice had come from the blonde boy, who was now standing next to her and lifting her suitcase onto the rack.

"Oh thank you so much." she said. "I know you may not be able to tell, but I'm not very strong." she said.

He laughed.

"Really? No way! I could've sworn I'd seen you on WWE or something." he said sarcastically.

It was now her turn to laugh.

"You're pretty quick to judge. How do you know I'm not a professional wrestler?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well I guess I don't know that, do I. How do you know I'm not an astronaut?"

"I never said you were."

"But you don't know that I'm not."

Just then the speakers came on and the conductor announced that the train was leaving.

They sat back in their seats as the train started moving.

She plugged her phone in and opened her laptop, typing expertly as the train picked up speed.

He put one of his earbuds back in and returned to his doodles, stealing glances at her every now and then.

A few minutes passed before the conductor came and checked their tickets.

"What's your stop?" the boy spoke up after the conductor had left.

"Why do you want to know? You could be a stalker murderer rapist for all I know."

"Well yes, props for being safe when it comes to strangers. But I was just wondering if it was before my stop so I could help you get your bag down."

"Oh." she said, taken aback by his politeness.

They were silent for a few moments.

"White plains. My stop is white plains." she said, breaking the silence.

"Cool. My stop is north white plains, which is about 2 minutes after the white plains stop." he said, smiling at her.

She smiled shyly back at him.

The train trekked on. When they announced that white plains was the next stop, the blonde boy stood and pulled her suitcase down from the rack.

"Thank you, again." she said, gathering her things and standing up as the train slowed down.

"No problem." he said, softly smiling at her.

She pulled her suitcase onto the platform after the train had come to a halt and the doors had opened.

"Oh and by the way..." the boy began as she stepped onto the platform.

"My name is Ross, and I'm not a stalker/murderer/rapist/astronaut." he said, standing in the doorway.

"My name is Laura and I'm not a professional wrestler." she said smiling.

He gave her one last grin before the doors slid shut and the train began moving again.

Laura stood on the platform, still smiling.

 _"Yeah, I think I'm gonna like it here."_ Laura thought to herself.

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	2. Familiar stranger

The day after Laura got to the city was spent unpacking and arranging her new apartment. Since her job was basically all online, she didn't need to go into the office yet; but she was going to go in the next day just to meet everyone and get a feel of what the company was like.

Since her job was in sports, that meant most of her work would be done during nights and weekends. Sports writing is a busy job but at least it's one of the few jobs in the world that doesn't require getting up early.

At 2pm, the cable guy came to instal her cable and Internet while she continued to unpack her belongings.

After the cable guy had left and her apartment was now almost completely unpacked, Laura ordered a pizza for dinner and flipped her tv onto the reds game.

After dinner, she called her dad and spent the rest of the night talking to him. They were both watching the game on their own separate tv's in two different states but it was almost like they were there together, sitting along the first base line at the reds stadium like they had done all those times in the past.

"Ugh that was so out." Laura told her dad over the phone as they watched the umpire call what they thought was an unfair play.

"I know! I swear this ump is a pirates fan..." her dad said.

She laughed.

"Well dad, it's getting late and I have to go into the city tomorrow morning for my first day of work." she said.

"Oh yeah, I'll let you go, sweetie. Good luck with the new job! I know you'll kick ass at it!"

"Thanks dad." Laura laughed.

"Goodnight Laur, sleep well. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad." she said before she hung up her phone and went to bed.

* * *

Her alarm went off at 7:30am; rudely waking her from a dream that involved a certain kind stranger.

Wait what?

Shaking those thoughts from her head, she got out of bed and went to take a shower.

She got out of the shower and combed her hair.

Now came the hard part: deciding what to wear.

Since she was a young, straight, white woman working in sports she needed to make the right impression.

She needed to appear professional and show that she knows what she's doing; she's not just some shallow girl who likes sports just because of all the hot guys.

Laura spent a good 30 minutes trying to figure out what to wear.

After 10 more minutes of ruffling through her entire wardrobe, she decided on a sleeveless yellow blouse, some jeans, and a pair of wedges.

After curling her hair and applying her makeup, Laura looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She looked professional and grown up yet casual and laid back at the same time.

Grabbing her across the body, brown computer bag (which doubled as her purse now), she ran out the door and to the train station that was just a half a mile from her apartment.

She could hear the train approaching as she made her way up the steps to the platform as quickly as she could in her wedges.

She pushed her way into the crowded train as best she could with her small frame.

She finally made it in just as the doors slid shut and the train picked up speed again.

She walked down the isle looking for an empty seat. The train was very crowded for almost 10am. There were no empty seats.

She continued making her way down the isle when she finally spotted an empty seat.

She made her way to the seat and saw that there was a familiar person, with their earbuds in and a script of some sort on his knee, sitting in the seat beside it.

"Long time no see." Laura said to Ross as she sat down in the empty seat beside him.

Ross was surprised by her sudden appearance, but relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" Laura apologized.

"No, you didn't. I was just... In the zone." Ross said, letting out a laugh.

"Oh, good." she said in relief; Laura hated causing anyone any kind of discomfort.

He smiled at her.

"So what brings you into the city today? I assume your going into the city; you don't strike me as a Harlem girl." Ross said.

"I feel like we've been through this before. How do you know I'm not stopping in Harlem? I could have a very important meeting with my... Thug street gang today." she said.

"Ok now I definitely know you're not stopping in Harlem." he laughed.

"How?" she asked him.

"Because "thug street gangs" don't have meetings." he said using air quotes, still laughing.

"Point taken. I'm not going to Harlem." she admitted.

"You don't say." he replied sarcastically.

She playfully hit him on the shoulder, which was much firmer than she had expected.

"You still haven't answered my question." he said after a while.

"Hmm?"

"What brings you into the city today?" he asked again.

"Oh, I'm starting a new job." she said.

"Very cool, very cool." he said.

"Aren't you going to ask what it is?" she asked him.

"I don't need to."

"Excuse me?"

"I already know that you're just a simple southern girl who came to the big city to follow her dreams, which I'm guessing has something to do with writing." he said.

"Wow, you're good. But you were a little off."

"In what way?"

"I'm just a simple MIDWESTERN girl who came to the big city to follow my dreams, which do have something do do with writing." she said.

"Damn, I was close." he said.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments as the train trekked on.

"So what brings you into the city today?" she asked him.

"I have an audition today." he told her.

"Oh, impressive. In what field? Acting? Singing? Dancing?"

"All 3 actually." he said sheepishly.

"Wow a triple threat." she said, thoroughly impressed. "Broadway?"

"That's the goal." he said nodding.

"I know you're gonna do great!" she told him.

"You barely know me." he reminded her.

"True, but I can just tell." she said smugly.

"I appreciate that." he said laughing.

They sat in silence for a few more moments.

"So what kind of writing do you do?" he asked her.

"Pardon?" she said.

"I assumed you were a writer, you just have that air of a writer; and you confirmed it saying you did come here for something that had to do with writing." he said.

"Oh yeah. Well I was hired on at FOX sports online about a month ago, so I moved up her and I start today. I'm a sports journalist which means I go to whatever events they send me to and write about them after and write about predictions and whatnot before the games happen." she explained.

"Wow, I never pegged you as a sports writer." he said.

"Well I never pegged you as a broadway performer." she said.

"Touché." he said, looking down at her an smiling as the train came to a stop in Grand Central.

They both stood up and began to make their way out of the train.

Once they got into the atrium and they were about to part ways, she turned around to grip his arm.

"Hey." she said, slightly startling him again.

He tribes to look at her, taking his earbud out.

"Break a leg at your audition! Ross." she said, addressing him by his name at the end, reassuring him that she had remembered him.

"Thanks. Good luck with your first day as a sports journalist. Laura." he said, a large grin spreading across his face.

Their eyes locked and they simply stared at each other for what most people would consider too long to be considered friendly. But they didn't care. They just started at each other, exploring the others eyes while. It was like they were in their own little bubble where everything was slow motion while the world around them rushed past them.

They both suddenly came out of their trance, blushing when they realized what they had been doing.

"Um right... Um... See ya later?" Ross said awkwardly.

"Yeah I think so." Laura said flintily as she turned to walk away; missing the way his knees almost buckled at her tone but not missing the way his eyes wandered down to her backside as she walked away.

She turned around and sent him a wink, as he blushed madly when he realized she had caught him staring.

Sending him one last grin, she made her way down to the subway.

Little did the other know that they couldn't break the smile off their own face after their little exchange.

 _"I could get used to this."_ Laura thought to herself.

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	3. Getting to know all about you

Laura rode the subway two stops from Grand Central to get to Rockefeller Center.

She exited the subway up the stairs, emerging into the sunlight and the crowd of people.

She walked a block passed Rockefeller Center and took a left, crossing the street to get to the FOX building.

Once she was standing in front of the entrance, she stopped and took a deep breath, calming her nerves before entering the building.

She made her way over to the reception desk.

"Hi, I'm Laura Marano. I'm a new sports journalist." she told the receptionist.

"Oh yes! One moment please, I'll let them know you're here. Please have a seat." the receptionist replied kindly.

Laura gave her a smile, then went to sit in the lounge area.

She pulled out her phone and checked stats while she waited.

"Laura?" a voice said a few minutes later.

She looked up to see a tall, good looking, red headed man, who couldn't have been much older than herself.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Hi, I'm Calum Worthy! I'm the supervisor for FOX sports online." he said, smiling warmly.

"Nice to meet you, Calum." Laura said, standing up and shaking his hand.

"Well we're really excited for you to be joining us!" he told her.

"I'm excited to be working here! This is literally like my dream job." she told him.

"Awesome! Yeah, working in sports is pretty much the best job ever. I mean, you can't work in sports and not have fun!" he said.

"Exactly!" she said. She had never met a person who shared her same passion about sports, other than her dad.

"Well, let's take a tour! I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone." Calum said, leading her towards the elevators.

"So we are on the main level currently, the first floor is news, the second floor is weather, and the third floor is sports." Calum said as they stepped into the elevator, pressing the number three.

When they exited the elevator on the third floor, Laura looked around at all the things she saw.

It was a very large room, the center of which was lined with rows of desks and cubicles, private offices lined the outer side of the room.

"So this is the sports floor. All of our journalists have desks; but as you can see, hardly any of them are here since you don't really need to be here just to write your stories. But there's always a desk here for you if you ever wanna come in." Calum said, pointing it all the empty desks.

"Is it weird rarely seeing your coworkers?" Laura asked him.

"Oh no, we see each other plenty. See, with the other departments, they see each other here every day, but in sports, you see your entire department at various other locations aka sporting events; which is way more fun. We all see each other at games which is very often, and leading up to games when we all do interviews and press conferences. And then we all travel to the big games and championships, which is always a blast." Calum explained excitedly.

"Sounds amazing!" Laura said.

"It really is!" Calum replied.

"Oh and here's your desk." he said, gesturing to a desk at the end of one of the rows.

"I'll let you get situated. My office is right here if you need anything!" Calum said, pointing to the office closest to where her desk was, shooting her a smile, then going off to see what other work needed to be done.

Laura sat down at her desk and smiled.

"Yes, I think this is going to be a very good fit." Laura thought to herself.

* * *

Laura spent the morning just going around meeting her coworkers and exploring the office.

She left the office around 2; there was nothing she needed to get done yet, so she decided to just hang out in the city for a while.

It was a beautiful fall day outside, she decided to walk over to Bryant Park, which was right by the library.

She entered the park and walked for a bit, just enjoying her surroundings.

After a while, she spotted a mop of familiar blonde hair.

He was sitting at a table next to the open lawn, his head and back hunched over what she assumed was his sketchbook.

She walked over to him, standing on his left side, tapping on his right shoulder.

He looked behind his right shoulder then twisted his head around to see her.

"Hey stranger." she said smiling, sitting in the seat opposite him.

"Hey." he replied breathlessly, a wide grin on his face.

"So whatcha' workin' on?" she asked, craning her neck to try to see what he was doodling in his sketchbook.

"Oh... Well... Nothing really." he said shyly. "I like to come to the park and sketch things I see. It's relaxing for me."

"Cool! Can I see some?" she said.

"They're not very good..." he said.

"They're probably better then anything I could draw." she told him.

"Ok, but just know I'm not a professional by any means. These are purely for pleasure." he said, she nodded.

He flipped open his sketch book to the page he had been on, showing her the picture.

"Ross..." she said breathlessly. "This is incredible."

He had drawn a family of a mother, a father and two small children, who were sitting just 10 feet away from where they were, having a picnic on the lawn.

"It's not much." he said.

"No, it's amazing. Really." she told him.

"Thanks." he said, giving her a shy smile; a bashful look on his face.

"So how did your first day at your new job go?" he asked her.

"Oh it went great! I'm really excited to be working there; I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. By the way, how did your audition go?" she asked him.

"I think it went well. I mean there are obviously a few things I would change if I could, but hey, we'll see what happens." he said.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"Hey, do you wanna get something to eat?" Ross asked her, speaking up.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." Laura said, as they both stood up.

"Great. I know this amazing bakery just across from the library." he told her as they began walking.

They enjoyed light conversation as Ross lead her towards the bakery.

"Here we are." he said as they came up to a bakery called "Maison Kayser".

"After you, m'lady." Ross said, holding the door open for her.

Her noise was filled with the sweet aroma of pastries when she entered the little shop.

Her eyes wandered across the beautifully decorated sweets behind the glass counter.

"I can't decide what to get, there's just so many choices. Any recommendations?" Laura asked him.

He simply grinned at her widely.

"Two pain au chocolats, please." Ross said politely to the girl working behind the counter.

The employee handed Ross the bag with the pastries in them; Ross then payed for both pastries and thanked the girl.

"Ross, you didn't need to pay." Laura told him as they left the bakery.

"No, I wanted to. Now shut up and try your croissant." he said.

She rolled her eyes at him, taking a bite of her croissant.

"Ohmuhgawd dis es AMASING." Laura said with her mouth full.

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's knowing how to pick a chocolate pastry." Ross said, cockily.

"That's a good skill to have." Laura replied, wiping the flakes off her mouth.

The pair decided to stroll down fifth avenue.

They walked leisurely down the street, getting to know each other better as they did.

They learned a lot about each other.

She learned that his last name was Lynch, his middle name was Shor (after his uncle), he was from Utah, he had four younger siblings (three brothers and one sister), and his favorite animal was an orca whale.

He learned that her last name was Marano, her middle name was Marie (no special meaning, her parents just liked the name), she was from Ohio, she had one older sister, and her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.

They also learned that they were exactly one month apart in age (her being a month older).

They learned where they had each gone to college (her at the University of Cincinnati and him at Juliard, yes, THE Juliard).

They leaned that they both shared a strong dislike for seafood, yet a love of studying aquatic life.

And they learned that they shared the same favorite food category: dessert. And the same favorite food: brownies.

Before they even knew what happened, they ended up back at Grand Central.

They arrived at the station at rush hour, so it was fairly crowded.

Laura felt Ross reach over and grasp her hand in his as they made their way through the crowd.

She was surprised by this gesture, but intertwined their fingers, nonetheless.

Their hands fit together as if they were made for each other. A warmth spread through each of their hands, tiny tingles spreading through their interlaced fingers.

Once they got to their track, he let go of her hand awkwardly; both missing the warmth as soon as it left.

"Sorry." he told her, looking down shyly. "It was just really crowded and I didn't want us to get separated."

"It's ok. I didn't mind." Laura said, smiling up at him.

He smiled back at her, then they walked onto the awaiting train, getting seats together.

The train left shortly after.

"I had a really great time today." Ross spoke up, after sitting in silence for a few moments.

"I did too. It's nice having a friend here." she said, smiling.

"To tell you the truth, I've been living here for like 4 years, and you are the best friend I've ever made in that entire time." he said. "And I know that sounds crazy because we literally just met and we don't even have each other's phone numbers yet but- what are you doing?"

As he was talking, she had taken out a pen from her purse, grabbed his hand and began to write her phone number in his palm.

"Giving you my number, duh." she told him.

"Oh." he said, keeping in the excited squeal he wanted to let out.

"By the way, I'm covering my first Yankees game this Friday; and as my only friend, I was wondering if maybe, you wanted to come with me." she told him.

"Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun." he replied, a grin spreading across his face.

"Cool. So just text me." she said with a wink, standing up as the train came to a stop at White Plains.

"Will do." he said happily, giving her a thumbs up.

She shot him one last grin before walking out of the train onto the platform.

Laura had had a very good day, and she was very glad to have a friend.

Little did she know that said friend kept his left hand raised in the air and didn't touch anything with it until her number was safely in his phone and she had responded to his text, so he was sure it was the right person.

Because there's no way he wanted to risk losing his new best friend and train buddy (which is what the text to her said) due to a miss printed phone number.

But thankfully, the number was printed correctly.

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	4. Take me out to the ballgame

**Author's note: this chapter goes out to Rama (awkstyless on twitter). I know this won't get you out of the hospital faster, but I hope it at least makes you smile! Love you babe!**

Laura woke up at 10am Friday morning, texting Ross as soon as she got out of bed to tell him she would meet him on the 1:17pm train into the city.

She took a shower, wrapped herself in a towel, and went to stand in her closet to decide what to wear.

Laura was puzzled.

She had no idea what to wear.

It was a baseball game, and it would be nice, but this was still her job. She needed to look put together.

She also couldn't wear anything that had a team logo on it, they weren't aloud to show favoritism whilst working in sports.

After a good 10 minutes of her just staring at her wardrobe choices, she chose a pair of jeans with a loose, comfortable, navy tank top.

She then applied a minimal amount of makeup (waterproof mascara and eyeliner, so she wouldn't turn into sweaty mess), threw her hair in a messy bun, and added some dangly silver earrings to complete her look.

Shoes were the next step, and they proved to be almost as difficult as the outfit.

She couldn't just wear sneakers because that would look unprofessional; but she also couldn't wear heels beacuse it was a freakin baseball game.

 _"Damn it's hard to be a women working in sports."_ she thought to herself.

She ended up picking a pair of yellow ballet flats that matched the shade of the polish on her fingernails perfectly.

Grabbing her brand new press pass off the kitchen counter, and slinging her bag over her shoulder, Laura rushed off to the train station.

She arrived at the station just as the train was stopping.

She hopped across the gap and into the train, searching around for her blond friend.

She spotted him quickly then made her way over to sit beside him.

The sight she saw almost made her laugh and aww at the same time: Ross was sitting at the window seat with his legs outstretched across the seat next to him, saving it for her; as if they were children on the school bus who wouldn't let anyone beside their best friend sit next to them.

"Hey!" Laura said greeting him.

"Hi!" Ross said, a huge smile forming on his face as he saw her.

He moved his legs down so she could sit.

"Thanks for saving me a seat." Laura said giggling.

"Hey, it's what best friends and train buddies are for." Ross said, nudging her arm with his elbow lightly.

Laura turned to look at him, smiling.

She took in his appearance: he was wearing a red plaid flannel with jeans, paired with black converse.

He was so effortlessly handsome.

Wait what?

"So are you excited for your first game as a journalist?" Ross asked her, bringing her out of her dazed caused by his attractiveness.

"Huh? Oh yeah! Yep! I'm really excited, but also kind of nervous, too." Laura told him.

"Don't be. You'll be great." he reassured him.

"You've never even read anything I've written." she reminded him.

"Well, yes, you're write. But your texts are very grammatically correct, so that must mean something." he said.

Laura laughed and playfully rolled her eyes at him.

He smiled at her fondly.

"So, you've lived in New York longer than I have, are you excited for the game today?" she asked him after a few moments of silence.

"Eh." he replied. "Sports weren't ever really my thing. Probably because my parents always forced me into them when I was little."

"I know how you feel. My mom was always trying to get me into theater and acting and I hated it. All I wanted to do was watch sports." Laura said.

"That's funny. Our most hated things in each of our childhoods is what the other one loves. My parents forced me to play sports, which I hated. Your mom forced you to do theater, which you hated. And now you work in sports and I work in theater. It's funny! And also a little ironic." Ross said, laughing.

"Huh, that is ironic. Who would've thought I'd ever be best friends and train buddies with a theater boy." Laura said teasingly.

Now it was her turn to nudge his arm and his turn to roll his eyes playfully.

They continued their light banter until all the way to Grand Central. They exited the train together, staying close so as not to get separated in the crowd.

They made their way to the subway, getting on the one that would take them all the way to Yankee Stadium.

They got off at their stop, walking out of the subway and down a block to where the stadium was located.

They arrived at 3pm, the game didn't start until 4:30pm. However, Laura did need to be there early.

They made their way into the stadium, Laura excitedly using her press pass for the first time.

After they were in the stadium, they went up to the press box to see the rest of the media there.

They went up an elevator, walked down a hallway, and entered room that had long counters with office chairs sitting behind them lining it, all in a row. Some people had already say down in the chairs and were typing away on their laptops.

Laura looked around and spotted red hair.

"Calum!" she said, relieved to see someone she knew.

Calum looked up and waved them over to him.

"Hey Laura!" Calum greeted her with a smile.

"Hey! Oh, Calum, this is my friend, Ross. Ross, this is my boss, Calum." Laura said, introducing the men to each other.

"Nice to meet you, bro." Calum said, reaching over to shake Ross' hand.

"You too, man." Ross said as he shook Calum's hand.

"Well, this is the press box." Calum said, gesturing to the room they were in. "It's not very interesting, but there is free food."

Ross and Laura laughed. They chatted with Calum for a whole as they waited for the game to start.

"Oh hey guess, this is Kevin Kopelow, he's at NBC." Calum said, introducing them to a bald man with glasses who smiled at them warmly.

"This is Heath Seifert, he works for ABC." Calum said a few minutes later, introducing them to a man with black hair and a beard who greeted them happily.

"This is Samantha Silver, she's at CBS." Calum said, introducing them to a women who seemed to be just a few years older than them, early thirties probably.

Laura got along very well with Sam, seeing as though they were both women working in sports.

Laura and Sam talked for a good amount of time, exchanging phone numbers and email addresses.

A few minutes later two tall (very attractive) men came and and walked over to we're they we're standing with Calum.

"Oh you must be Laura!" the brunette man said. "I'm Joey Manderino; I'm another one of the journalists at FOX."

"Oh, nice to meet you!" Laura said, reaching out to shake his hand.

"And I'm Garron Ma." the other man, who had jet black hair said. "I'm also a journalist."

"It's nice to meet you, too!" Laura said, shaking Garron's hand.

"I'm really excited to be working with you guys!" Laura said.

"Yeah, we're a pretty fun crowd." Garron said, causing Laura to laugh.

"We're so glad to be working with you! We've read your stuff and it's AMAZING." Joey said.

"Really?" Laura said, shocked.

"Yeah! We would read them all the time!" Garron said. "You're really talented. I'm glad you're apart of our team."

Laura smiled at their sweet words.

She had almost forgotten that Ross was there.

"Oh, guys this is my friend, Ross." Laura said, introducing him to her coworkers.

Laura, Ross, Calum, Joey and Garron continued to joke around and laugh until the game started; which is when they took their seats in the front and bottom of the row of seats.

Ross sat on the end next to Laura. Watching her fondly as she took out her laptop and began typing away.

After 2 innings, Ross grew bored with the game.

However, Laura was completely engrossed in the game; so Ross had to find his own means of entertainment.

He spent 2 more innings just watching her. And the 2 innings he spent watching her were much more entertaining to him than the 2 innings he spent actually watching the game.

She was so focused on the game and writing, and he just watched her fondly.

He watched her fingers graze across her keyboard with expertise.

He watched her bite her bottom lip in concentration.

He was just memorized by her.

She and her coworkers would make comment every now and then that would throw them into a fit of laughter, Ross just laughed along even though he didn't understand the joke, most likely sports related.

It was now the top of the fifth inning, he had moved on to drawing random doodles on her upper arm and exposed shoulder with his finger.

She looked over at him out of the corner of her eye and smirked, not stopping him, though.

Ross continued drawing absentmindedly on her arm with his finger until the top of the bottom of the sixth inning.

"Hey, do you wanna go grab something to eat?" Laura said, looking over at him.

"Yes, PLEASE." Ross replied, standing up immediately.

They left the press box and went down to the main part of the stadium with all the vendors.

It was much more crowded than it was when they had gotten there earlier.

They got in line for one of the vendors, which was obnoxiously long.

"So how are you liking the game?" Ross asked her.

"Oh my God it's AMAZING! That triple play the shortstop made 2 innings ago, UNBELIEVABLE." Laura said excitedly. "How about you? Are you bored out of your mind yet?"

"Well kinda. I found something to entertain me though." he said.

"Oh really? What?"

"You." he said, smirking.

"Me?" she said.

"Yeah. I watched you instead of the game. You're really cute when you're focused." he said. "Well, you're really cute all the time, it's just when you're concentrate you-." Ross said stopping abruptly and blushing when he realized he had called her cute.

Laura also had a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Thanks buddy, you're pretty cute yourself." Laura replied confidently, causing him to smile shyly.

They got to the front of the line at the bottom of the sixth inning; they each got a hot dog & beer and they got an order of fries to share.

"You wanna go sit down in the stands? There's a bunch of empty seats." Laura asked Ross.

"Sure. You lead the way." Ross replied.

Laura walked over to were there we're a bunch of open seats right along the third base line.

They sat down and ate their food and drank their beers.

They had finished their food and drinks once they got to the seventh inning stretch.

The small amount of alcohol they had consumed was now taking its affect on them, they weren't wasted but they were just slightly tipsy.

When "take me out to the ball game" started playing, they threw their arms around each other shoulders, swaying and singing along loudly.

They were both in a fit of laughter by the end of the song, collapsing back down into their seats.

The sun had begun to set as they got to the top of the eighth. They sat along the third base line until the bottom of the eighth, when Laura said they needed to head back up to the press box for the end of the game.

Once they were back in their cushy press box seats, it was the top of the ninth and Ross was growing sleepy.

He placed his head in his arms which were resting on the table in front of him, letting his eyes drift shut.

Almost an hour later, Laura woke him.

"Huh?" Ross said groggily.

"Ross, the game is over, we can go now." Laura said, giggling.

Ross stood up, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He looked around the room, which was now completely empty.

"How long ago did the game end?" he asked her as they made their way to the elevator.

"Just like 15 minutes ago. They played 11 innings and I needed to finish my story so I just let you sleep while everyone else cleared out."

They were walking out of the stadium when they passed the gift shop, which was still open.

"Wait! Let's go look in here!" Ross said to Laura, pulling her into the gift shop.

They both looked around at all the little nicknacks and overpriced t-shirts.

While Laura was trying to see if they had her name on a Yankees keychain just for the heck of it, Ross disappeared only to return a few minutes later with a bag containing his recent purchases.

"What'd ya get?" Laura asked him, looking up at him from he squatting position, still looking to find her name.

"Oh ya know... Just... Matching Yankees hats!" he said excitedly, pulling out to classic Yankees ball caps.

Laura laughed at him as he placed his new hat on his head, the tags still on.

"Now are you gonna put your hat on too or am I just gonna look stupid?" he asked her, handing her the other hat.

She took the hat from his hands, placing it on her head, not removing the tags.

"There we go!" Ross said happily.

She laughed.

"Thanks for the souvenir, Ross." Laura said.

"Hey, it's the least I can do! You brought me here and gave me the VIP treatment with your fancy press pass." he said.

She laughed again; he slung his arm around her shoulders and they walked out of the stadium.

"Ohhh Johnny Rockets!" Ross said, after they had begun walking back to the subway.

"What's that?" Laura asked.

"Only the home of the best cheesecake EVER. C'mon, we're splitting an Oreo cheesecake. My treat." Ross said, pulling her into the restaurant.

They were seated quickly and told their waiter they only wanted a slice of cheesecake to share.

Five minutes later, he returned with the most beautiful slice of cheesecake Laura had ever seen.

"Ladies first." Ross said, handing her a fork.

Laura took a bite of the cheesecake and moaned loudly (not noticing the blush on Ross' cheeks as she did).

"That is the most amazing thing I've ever tasted." Laura said, after she swallowed the dessert.

"Right?!" Ross said eagerly, picking up his own fork and digging into the cake.

The two of them finished the enormous slice of cake in under five minutes; meaning they had paid the bill and were out the door after barely twenty minutes in the restaurant.

With full stomachs, they walked back to the subway and rode back to grand central.

It was after midnight after they boarded their train home.

Laura was so wiped out, she leaned down and rested her head on Ross' shoulder. He didn't mind, though. He just laid his head on top of hers.

The train had begun to move, but they didn't say a word. Content just sitting there, heads on top of each other.

"I had a really great time today, Laura." Ross told her after a while. "I've never enjoyed myself at a sporting event as much as I did tonight."

"I'm glad." Laura said. "I had a great time, too."

"How would you feel about going out for lunch tomorrow? I have a place I want to show you." Ross said.

"That sounds lovely." Laura said, as the train slowed down at her stop.

"Cool. So we'll just take the same train we took today; there's no need in waking up early when we'll both be exhausted." he said.

She just smiled at him fondly and nodded.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" Ross said as she stood up.

"Definitely." Laura said.

He smiled widely at her.

"Goodnight Ross." Laura said, giving him a wave.

"Goodnight Laura."

 _ **reviews make me happy :)**_


	5. I'm so excited

_"We still on for lunch today?"_ was the text Laura received just after ten the next morning, waking her up.

 _"Yep! Meet you on the 1 o'clock train?"_ she texted back.

 _"Will do, train buddy ;)"_ he responded.

She smiled at her phone, and then got out of bed to take a shower.

She replayed the previous nights events over in her head as she was in the shower, she couldn't even remember the last time she had had that much fun.

In high school she had never really had many friends, which never really bothered her. As a writer, she preferred to be alone anyway.

And all the girls just turned their noses up at her just because she would rather watch a sports game than go shopping.

Maybe it was her tainted relationship with her mother, but Laura had always gotten along better and been more comfortable around boys than she had ever been with girls.

She had never had any friends, let alone a best friend. It was nice to have a person like Ross in her life, who understood her and genuinely wanted to know her.

She turned the shower off, stepping out and wrapping herself in a towel.

She didn't know where Ross was taking her for lunch, she assumed if it was an upscale place he would have informed her to dress up.

She pulled out a pair of skinny jeans an threw on one of her favorite shirts, a long sleeved, yellow, Salty Dog Cafe shirt from Hilton Head, South Carolina; her family's favorite vacation spot. She and her dad still go at least once every year.

Since it was autumn in New York, it was getting quite chilly, she put on a pair of brown knee high boots and threw on her North Face jacket.

Going back into her bathroom, she decided against wearing makeup and put a grey beanie on her head to avoid doing her hair.

Grabbing her bag and a banana to eat on the way, Laura headed out the door and to the train station.

She got there early, the train hadn't arrived yet. She pealed her banana and ate it quickly as the crisp breeze hit her face.

The train pulled up shortly after, she stood up and walked in the almost empty train.

She quickly spotted Ross, he turned and waved to her, beckoning her over to him.

He had done the same thing again where he saved her seat by propping his legs up on the seat next to him.

"Hi!" she greeted him, smiling.

"Long time no see." he replied, also smiling.

"So where are we going today?" she asked as she sat down when the train began to move.

"It's a surprise." he said, smirking.

"Well then." she replied.

"It'll be fun. Trust me." he told her.

They continued their normal conversations all the way to Grand Central. They got off the train and walked toward the subway, him leading the way.

They got on a subway, Laura still didn't know where they were going. They rode for a few stops until they got to Times Square, which is where they got off.

Laura had not been to Times Square since she had moved to New York yet, and it wasn't really at the top of her list.

As they were walking up from the subway, Ross grabbed her hand.

"It's a Saturday in Times Square, I don't wanna lose you." he told her teasingly.

She rolled her eyes, intertwining their fingers.

They emerged into the crowd of mostly tourist, lots of vendors, and an odd arrangement of people dressed in characters.

He they walked about a block away from the hustle, crossing the street before arriving at their destination.

"Ellen's Stardust Diner." Laura read on the sign.

"Yep. C'mon!" Ross said, pulling her inside.

They were seated shortly after entering. Laura observed the place: it looked like a classic diner with a New York twist. The walls were lined with head shots and the employees sang live for entertainment.

"Ross!" a middle aged women came up and greeted him, pulling him into a tight hug, which he returned happily.

"Crystal, this is my friend, Laura. Laura, this is Crystal. She's the owner and manager here." Ross said.

"It's nice to meet you!" Laura said, smiling at the woman.

"You too, dear!" Crystal replied.

She then turned to Ross, raised her eyebrows and gave him a thumbs up, causing him to blush.

"Well I'll catch up with you kids later!" Crystal said before rushing off to tend to whatever needed tending.

"I used to work here." Ross told her.

"Really?" Laura said, surprised yet interested.

"Yeah. They hire aspiring broadway performers, but they only take the best of the best. Like you have to audition just to work here as a waiter." Ross explained to her.

"So why did you quit?" Laura asked him.

"I booked a few small roles, and I kept getting auditions. I had that audition the other day; and I heard back about it. I got the part." Ross said, smiling.

"Really?! Oh my God, Ross! That's amazing! Oh my God my best friend is gonna be on broadway!" Laura said excitedly.

"Calm down, Laura. I'm not the lead or anything. I'm in the ensemble. Well, technically I'm the swing. Which means I learn all the male roles and go in for anyone if they need me to last minute." Ross said.

"That's so cool! I already can't wait for your opening night!" Laura said.

"The show doesn't open for a few months, but when it does, I promise you'll be my plus one." Ross said, smiling at her.

Laura smiled back at him, unable to hold it in.

She was really excited.

Because her best friend was gonna be on broadway.

 _ **reviews make me happy :)**_


	6. Don't rain on my parade

**Author's note: IM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED THIS STORY IN SO LONG! Turns out, working on 5 stories at once isn't actually easy, who knew?**

"4am?! Are you serious?!" Laura said into her phone as she scurried around her apartment, tidying things up.

"No, Laura; I'm joking about having to be somewhere at four in the morning because I find that funny." Ross replied sarcastically on the other line.

"But 4am? On a holiday? That's ridiculous!" Laura exclaimed.

"YOU don't have to get there at 4. As my plus one, you can get there at like 7 because the parade starts at 9." Ross said.

Ross and Laura were currently discussing their Thanksgiving plans. Niether would be going home; Ross is performing in the parade on Thursday and Laura has to work on Friday, so they've decided to spend the holiday together.

Ross had to be in Times Square at 4am to prepare for the parade, which Laura was coming to watch him in. It was going to be the first time she had ever seen him perform.

"Ok the parade is over at noon, so we can head back to my place then. I've got all the food basically to the point where we'll just need to heat it up tomorrow." Laura explains.

"Sweet! I can't wait!" Ross replied. "I'm gonna let you go so I can get a decent amount of sleep before I need to leave at 3am."

"Sleep well, my friend! I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning!" Laura said happily, before hanging up her phone.

Laura was nearly bouncing off the walls with excitement. Thanksgiving was her all time favorite holiday. Sure, she was sad not being able to spend it with her dad back in Cincinnati, but she was so excited about spending the holiday with her new best friend.

Though they hadn't known each other very long, Ross and Laura had quickly become the best friend either of them had ever had.

She looked around her kitchen, checking to make sure everything was ready for preparation for tomorrow afternoon.

The small turkey the two of them would share was in the crockpot, she had cans of corn and green beans sitting on the counter, the rolls were in the freezer ready to be heated, the mashed potatoes were in a container in the refrigerator, and her great grandmother's famous sweet potato casserole was also in the fridge, along with her grandmother's famous cranberry jello.

She had also bought a pumpkin pie, and made two different kids of brownies since they were her's and Ross' mutual favorite food. She made normal brownies and she had also made her aunt's famous mint brownies, which were cooling in the freezer.

After she had decided that everything was 100% ready for tomorrow, she went to take a shower.

When she finished her shower, she hopped into bed. It wasn't even 10pm yet, but she needed to get up before six to be at Macy's by seven.

Laura was rudely awoken by her alarm at 5:45am, giving her 15 minutes to get ready to be out of her apartment by 6am.

"Are you excited because I KNOW I AM! Wooooo! Waking up early on holidays ROCKS!" Laura texted Ross, knowing he was currently in Times Square with his cast mates in the freezing cold.

"Yeah, yeah, calm down buddy." he replied, not even a minute later.

"Not gonna happen buddy ;) see ya in an hour!" she replied before quickly getting dressed.

She dressed warm, because it was very cold out. She wore a scarf, hat, and multiple pairs of socks and gloves.

It was still dark outside as she walked to the train, through the crisp November air.

She made it to the station just as the train pulled in, the usually cold air warming her entire body as she stepped inside.

She sat quietly on the train as it made its way into the city. She nearly drifted back to sleep multiple times without Ross there to keep her alert whilst on the train.

Once the train arrived at Grand Central, Ally emerged to find the terminal much more crowded than usual for a Thursday and 6am, and on a holiday!

Laura rushed through the crowed to get to the most crowded subway: times square.

She squeezed her way onto the subway and rode it until she was one stop away from times square. Deciding to beat the crowd, Laura exited the subway here and began walking towards times square.

She spotted a little cafe, which she popped inside to order a drink. She had had no caffeine at all that morning and she was gonna need it if she wanted to stay awake past noon.

She ordered a coffee for her and a tea with lemon and honey that she would deliver to Ross, knowing that he would be in much need of caffeine too.

She emerged from the cafe into the cold morning air, two warm cups grasped in her gloved covered hands.

Now only like half a block away from her destination, the crowd got thicker and thicker.

Ross told her to meet him at the theater where his show was performed, which was right in times square, smack dap on broadway.

After walking through the crowd a little longer, she found herself outside the theater.

She texted Ross, letting him know she was there. He had her pass that she would need to get to her seat.

She stood outside the locked theater doors for a few minutes, then a man who worked for the theater came and opened the door.

"Laura?" he asked her.

"Yes." she replied.

"Follow me." he said, leading her into the warm theater.

"Wait here." he told her when they arrived in front of a pair of double doors. "I'll go get him."

A few moments later, the man returned, now accompanied by Ross.

"Good morning, sunshine." she greeted him sarcastically when she saw his tired expression.

He responded by giving her a dry look.

"I knew you would be tired so I brought you some tea." she said, handing him the cup of tea.

"You are the greatest best friend that has ever lived." he told her, before taking a long sip of the tea.

"So what's the plan for today?" she asked him.

"Well, the parade starts at 9. And I got us fantastic seats right out front of Macy's, like right where all the performances take place. Our show performs pretty early on, so I'll be in my seat next to you by 10, then we'll just enjoy the parade and try not to freeze our asses off." he explained.

"Awesome!" Laura replied.

"Ok, here's your pass. You're gonna need to show that to security to get you to your seat." he said, handing her a laminated pass on a lanyard.

"So, it's almost 8 right now." he said checking his watch. "You're gonna wanna start heading to our seats."

"Ok! Thanks for the pass!" she said beginning to walk out of the theater.

"I'll see ya in like 2 hours!" he called back at her, before heading back to rehearsal.

Laura stopped in her tracks and turned to see him walking away.

Setting down her coffee and her purse, she ran to him and threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

Ross was surprised to say the least, but he hugged her back just as tightly; wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her body closer to his.

"Break a leg." she whispered to him, still hugging him.

"Thanks." He whispered back, a large smile growing on his face.

They broke apart from their hug and smiled at each other.

She waved at him before running back to where her purse and coffee were sitting, the exiting the theater to find her seat.

She maneuvered her way though the tight crowd, coming to a barrier gaurded by police right in front of Macy's.

"Excuse me, officer?" Laura asked. "I need to find my seat."

"May I see a pass?" the cop responded.

Laura quickly pulled out her pass to show to the police officer.

"Right this way, mam." He said after he checked her pass, moving aside the barricade.

She was then assorted to her seat by someone who appeared to be a tv producer.

Once in her seat, Laura admired her amazing spot. Ross was right when he said these seats were fantastic. They were smack dap in front of Macy's.

Every few minutes they would announce however many minutes were left until they went live and the parade started.

Finally, she heard the producer start counting down from 10 and then they went live, kicking off the start of the parade.

Since Macy's was the end of the parade route, all the Broadway acts performed first, meaning Ross was performing very soon.

She sat through the first few performances in awe. She had never really liked musical theater growing up because her mother had always forced her into it, but this was just something else. Watching professional New York City Broadway performers was much more entertaining than watching amateur Cincinnati high school performers.

Right before second commercial break, she heard them announce that Ross' show was performing next. She felt butterflies appear in her stomach. Was he nervous? She knows she would be. He seemed fairly calm when she had seen him earlier; so maybe he's keeping his nerves underway. It's ok though, she's nervous enough for the both of them.

She saw his cast come out and set up the minimal props they had, stretch and take their places.

She saw the familiar mop of blonde hair standing in line behind who she assumed was the star of the show.

He looked up (probably because he felt her eyes on him), and met her gaze. He shot her a nervous but excited smile as she gave him two thumbs up.

They heard the intro music start playing again, meaning they were back from commercial.

She heard them announce the show, then the music started playing.

The lead, a short Latina woman with curly black hair, had a phenomenal voice. She sung powerfully, you could hear that her voice was naturally like that. There's no way you can be taught to sing that beautifully.

The song picked up, which is when the ensemble came in.

The dancing was incredible; Laura couldn't take her eyes off of Ross the whole time.

He danced with such ease and grace. She had no idea he was capable of doing so.

The performance soon ended, gaining a standing ovation from the crowd; Laura clapped and cheered loudly as she watched Ross stand there with his cast, taking it all in, out of breath, an enormous smile on his face.

They then cut to another commercial, announcing that the parade would be arriving soon as they did. She watched as Ross and his cast run off camera to change out of their costumes, and then take their seats to watch the rest of the parade.

A few minutes later they came back from commercial, Laura could see the front of the parade rounding the corner.

They announced that the parade was here just as the marching bands and floats arrived in front of the iconic department store.

Just after they cut to the first commercial after the parade had actually started, Laura felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned her head to see Ross, beaming widely.

"You were amazing!" she screamed, jumping into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you!" Ross said, hugging her back. "I did a lot better knowing you were watching me; having you here really helped calm me down."

She broke away from their hug and smiled at him, he smiled back at her.

After staring into each other's eyes a few moments longer than is considered friendly, they both took their seats.

The duo spent the rest of the morning "ohing" and "awing" over the magnificent floats, and cheering for all the famous performers, and cheering the loudest for the most famous of all the "performers" in the entire parade, so famous they couldn't even be followed because nothing else could top them, which is why they ended the parade. This person: Santa Claus.

The parade ended and Ross and Laura decided to escape the crowd by walking towards the village to catch the subway back to Grand Central to catch the train to Laura's place.

The parade might have been over, but the Thanksgiving festivities had only just begun.

 ** _reviews make me happy :)_**


	7. Thank you for being a friend

**Author's note: NO ITS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS DAY JOKE I ACTUALLY UPDATED OMG I KNOW ITS CRAZY! For real tho, I'm so freakin sorry I haven't updated this story since before thanksgiving, that's insane. Now that I'm not trying to regularly update 5 different stories at once (rip in peace missing moments series') I should be able to update this story more frequently. If you don't already know, I have a parent!auslly series that I update every Sunday, so I'm thinking I'll update this story on Fridays, maybe every other Friday. Or maybe every Friday. Who knows (wow shout out to Terry who did the slate for A &A for that Laura joke). Wow I've rambled long enough, ONTO THE STORY!**

Ross and Laura laughed as they made their way back to Grand Central.

"No way!" Laura said to Ross as he told her a story that had happened to him on Thanksgiving many years earlier. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm dead serious!" Ross replied. "There was a gas leak at my grandparents house, ON Thanksgiving! The fire department had to come and we had to take our dinner to my Aunt and Uncle's house."

"Wow." Laura said. "That must've been a memorable Thanksgiving."

"Oh yeah, it certainly was; but not in a good way." Ross said, laughing.

Laura giggled as he laughed at his horrible Thanksgiving memories.

"Yeah, all my bad Thanksgivings just consist of my family fighting. Nothing exciting." Laura said, rubbing her hands together to create warmth as they walked.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"Yeah, a little bit." she chuckled. "I mean it is like twenty something degrees. That's pretty cold."

Ross ignored her smartass comment and reached over to take one of her hands in his.

Laura's breath hitched at the gesture.

His hand felt so warm in contrast to her own freezing one. But it wasn't just a temperature warmth; it was a kind of warmth that shot up her whole arm, making it feel all tingly in the best way possible.

She looked up and him and saw him smiling shyly at her; she squeezed his hand slightly and sent him a smile in return before they fixated their eyes on the path in front of them; but not before he decided to intertwine his fingers with hers.

They finally made it to Grand Central; they longer had any feeling in their faces, but they made it.

Still holding hands, they made their way to the gate their train was waiting at.

The train departed shortly after they took their seats.

Laura let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't get me wrong, I love the city." Laura said. "But sometimes it's just a little too crowded, especially on big days like this."

Ross nodded in agreement.

"My first New Year's here was traumatizing." Ross said. "I was living in Brooklyn, and I had an audition the morning of New Year's Eve. They had to hold it at Radio City because Times Square was already so crowded, all the people had already claimed spots like 15 hours before the ball even dropped. And then that night, I could hear Times Square from my apartment! In Brooklyn!"

"Wow." Laura said.

"Yeah." Ross replied, nodding his head.

"Sounds like you were too bitter to kiss someone at midnight then." Laura joked.

This comment made Ross blush for some unknown reason. Laura chose not to acknowledge it; she found it cute when he blushed.

...

"Make yourself at home; I'll heat up the food, then we can turn on the game and eat while we're watching it." Laura said, leading Ross into her appartment.

"No, let me help you!" Ross said, insisting that he help her with the food.

"Okay, fine. But only because you begged!" Laura said. "I usually don't make my guests help me."

Laura removed all the food she had prepared earlier from the refrigerator, then she and Ross made their plates and heated them up in the microwave.

"You really didn't have to go to all this trouble." Ross said as he saw the large assortment of food she had prepared. "Seriously, we could've just ordered a pizza."

"No! I wanted us to have an actual Thanksgiving dinner since we're both away from our families." Laura said.

"Well, thank you." Ross told her sincerely. "It all looks amazing."

"I try." Laura shrugged, which for some reason caused Ross to laugh.

"What are we standing around for?" Ross said. "Let's dig into this magnificent food!"

The pair each fixed themselves plates, before Laura led him to the couch, flipping the tv onto a football game.

"My dad and I used to always watch football while we ate Thanksgiving dinner." Laura explained. "It drove my mother absolutely insane, which only made us want to do it more."

Ross chucked at her story; finding it funny that the only reason she turned on the game was to spite her mother who wasn't even in the same state.

"Hey, my mom still makes me sit at the kids table on holidays." Ross said. "And I can only handle my siblings and cousins in like 2 minute doses, at the most."

"Oh yeah? Well my mom used to make everyone say something they're thankful for, and when it was her turn she would go on and on about all my sisters accomplishments, completely ignoring my existence." Laura said.

"Ouch." Ross said. "That must've stung."

"Tell me about it." Laura said.

The pair was quiet for a few moments, both distracted by the large amount of food in front of them.

"You know, that isn't actually a bad idea." Ross said, breaking the silence.

"What?" Laura asked.

"Saying what we're thankful for." Ross said. "This sounds fun! Okay, you go first!"

"Fine." Laugh sighed. "I'm thankful that I didn't freeze to death this morning."

"Good one!" Ross said. "I'm thankful that I didn't screw up my performance on live TV."

"I'm thankful that the food didn't burn." Laura said.

"I'm thankful for this new shirt, it's really soft." Ross said, causing Laura to laugh.

"I'm thankful for my new job that brought me all the way to New York City." Laura said.

"I'm also thankful for your job." Ross said.

"What?" Laura said. "Why?"

"You said it yourself, it brought you to New York." Ross smiled bashfully. "If it weren't for your job bringing you here we would've never met."

"I'm thankful that I met you." Laura said softly. "You're the best friend I've ever had in my whole life. I know that might sound weird, I mean we haven't actually known each other _that_ long-"

"No!" Ross interrupted. "I'm thankful for you too. I've lived here for years and I've never had a real friend like you. You're the best friend I've ever had. So thank you. Thank you for being my friend."

"Don't mention it." Laura smiled.

 ** _reviews make me happy :)_**


	8. Home for the holidays

"Laura! For gods shake, put your phone away! It's Christmas! A time meant to be spent with family, not whoever it is you've been texting nonstop every since you got back."

Laura rolled her eyes and let out an irritated sigh, quickly finishing her text to Ross before sliding her phone back in her pocket.

She knew he would not be happy with her for abandoning their conversation; due to the two hour time difference, while she was eating Christmas dinner, he was stuck with all his siblings and relatives, being forced to listen to all their boring stories about what had been going on in their lives over the past several months.

Reluctantly, Laura focused her attention on the conversation happening around the table, which was just her mother bragging about the role her sister had booked.

"What about you, Laura?" her aunt said. "How has New York been treating you?"

"it's been fantastic!" Laura said. "I love my job, my coworkers are great, I've made new friends, the city is just incredible, I've never been happier!"

"That's great, sweetie!" her aunt smiled. "I'm happy you're happy!"

Just then, Laura's phone buzzed again.

"WHO in the world keeps texting you?" her mother said, irritated.

"Just a friend," Laura said.

"Is it a boy?" her cousin smirked.

"Yes..." Laura said slowly.

"Is he your boyfriend?" her other cousin smirked.

"No, he isn't,"Laura said. "Boys and girls can be just friends, you know."

Her mother scoffed.

"What is that for?" Laura said, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, I just find it hard to believe you're just friends with this boy, seeing as though you've been texting him nonstop since you got home," her mother said.

Laura held her tongue. She wanted to say so many things to her mother, but didn't because it was Christmas and she didn't wanna be the cause of any drama.

So she just sat back in her chair and said nothing, anxiously waiting for this dinner to be over so she could text Ross about how horrible it was.

...

"Ross, get off your phone!"

"Yeah, this is family time!"

"Who are you even texting anyway?"

"Nobody," Ross said quietly, anxiously awaiting the next text as he watched the three little dots on the screen.

"C'mon, you haven't looked up from your phone all day!"

"I bet it's a girl!"

"Aww, does wittle Rossy have a girl-fwiend!"

"Shut up guys," Ross told his siblings. "She's just a friend."

"So it is a girl!"

"WHO IS JUST A FRIEND."

"Is she hot?"

"Is she single?"

"Can I have her number?"

"NO!" Ross said loudly. "Well, except for the first one. I guess you could say she's hot, but I would describe her more as classy and beautiful; she's got the most beautiful brown eyes and her hair always smells so nice. And her smile-"

"Dude, you've got it BAD."

"WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!" Ross yelled, growing very irritated with his siblings.

"Kids!" his mother called out from the kitchen. "Come wash up, dinners ready!"

His large family all took their seats at the table and dug into the delicious meal that had been prepared.

"So how's New York been treating you, Mr. Broadway star?" his grandfather smirked.

"We watched you in the parade!" his grandmother chimed in. "You were just incredible, sweetheart!"

"Thank you, grandma," Ross smiled. "Yeah, it's been great. The show opens in just a few weeks. It's really nervewracking but also really exciting."

"That's wonderful honey!" his grandmother smiled. "So besides the show, are there any other exciting things going on in your fancy New York life?"

"Nope, not really-" Ross said.

"Except his new girlfriend," his brother smirked.

"Girlfriend?!" his mother said, placing her hands over her mouth excitedly.

"No, mom, she's not my girlfriend," he said quickly. "I'm not dating anyone. She's just a friend."

"Just a friend that you're IN LOVE with," his other brother said.

"No I'm not," Ross whined, his voice soft.

"What's your friend like, Ross?" his grandmother asked softly.

"She's great," Ross smiled. "She works for FOX sports online, she's super funny and sweet and just easy to talk to and be around."

"I'm glad to hear you finally found an actual friend up there," his mother smiled. "I know how lonely you've been."

"Yeah," Ross nodded. "I'm glad too."

Ross' younger brother leaned towards his sister to whisper something in her ear.

"Bet ya twenty bucks he's dating her by Easter."

"You're on."

 ** _reviews make me happy :)_**


	9. NYC

"Ladies and gentleman, please return your tray table to its upright and locked position and keep your lap belt buckled until the aircraft has come to a complete stop at the gate before moving about the cabin. Thank you for flying with us and have a great night."

Laura felt all the tension in her shoulders that had built over the past few weeks she had spent with her family melt away as she glanced out the tiny airplane window and saw the skyline.

New York City at night was a magical place. The city may never sleep, but at night there was a certain captivatingly romantic feeling about it. She absolutely loved it.

The plane came to a stop as it arrived at the gate. Laura quickly packed up her laptop in her backpack and walked down the narrow aisle and exited the aircraft.

She nearly sighed in relief as she walked up the tunnel to the airport, all the unfamiliarity and awkwardness she had felt over the holidays in her home town being replaced with an overwhelming sense of home.

As she exited the tunnel and emerged at the gate, she was surprised to see a smiling face and a mop of blond hair waiting for her.

"Ross!" Laura said happily, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. "What are you doing here? Wait, how are you here?"

"My flight got in a few hours ago," Ross told her, throwing an arm around her shoulders as the duo made their way to baggage claim. "So I decided to hang back here behind security to greet you when you got in."

"Aww, you didn't have to do that," Laura told him, biting back a smile, touched by his sweetness.

"But I wanted to!" Ross said, holding out a small bag containing a pastry. "Here, I figured you hadn't eaten yet, so I got you something."

Laura room the bag from him and peeked inside.

"Its a pain au chocolate," he smiled. "Same thing we are the first time we really hung out and got to know each other. Do you remember that?"

"Yeah," she said softly, smiling up at him." That was a good day."

"Yeah it was," he smiled down at her.

They stood there for several long moments, simply smiling at each other.

An announcement being made over the loud speaker startled them out of the trance they were in.

"Umm..." Laura said softly. "Thank you. For waiting for me, for getting me a snack, just... Thank you."

"Anytine buddy," he grinned, taking her hand in his and leading her all the way to baggage claim.

"So how were your holidays?" he asked as he pulled his own suitcase off the conveyer belt.

"The usual," she shrugged, retrieving her own bag. "Starts off where I'm glad to see everyone again but by day three I'm ready to never see them again."

Ross laughed, the duo lugging their suitcases out to where the taxis were waiting.

"So how were your holidays?" she asked him as they waited for a cab.

"Same as yours," he said. "Fun at first, but ready to get everything over with by day three."

She chuckled softly as a cab parked in front of them before helping Ross lift their suitcases into the trunk of the car.

"Where to?" the cab driver asked, Ross and Laura sliding into the back seat.

"Grand central," Ross said, rubbing his hands together in attempt to warm them.

The car ride was silent, they each day lost in their own thoughts all the way to the train station.

"Keep the change," Ross smiled as he paied for the ride once they had arrived at grand central. "And have a good night."

"You too, sir," the cab driver replied happily.

Ross removed both of their suitcases from the trunk just before the cab drove away.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Laura spoke up.

"Do what?" Ross asked, holding the door open for her, pulling their suitcases behind them as they entered the crowded station.

"Pay the fare," she replied. "I could've paid; seriously, you waited for my flight to get in, the least I could do is pay for the cab ride."

"Nah, it's cool," he smiled down at her. "I wanted to."

She felt her cheeks heat up, her eyes darling to her shoes.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Don't mention it," he said, taking her hand in his own.

Her eyes widened and left her shoes, darting up to meet his.

"So we don't get separated," he said, a smug smile threatening to take over his face.

"Of course," she said, intertwining their fingers.

The pair walked side by side to their hate, hands remaining intertwined.

"I told my family about you," Ross spoke up.

"You did?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said, the tips of his ears turning pink. "They think we're dating."

"No way!" Laura said. "That's exactly what my family thought when I told them about you!"

"Seriously?" Ross asked.

"Yes!" Laura laughed. "Crazy, right?"

"Haha..." Ross said slowly. "Yeah..."

The two fell silent until they boarded the train and sat down, when Ross spoke up.

"Doesn't it seem strange to you that both our families just assumed we were dating?"

"Pardon?" Laura said.

"I mean, isn't it a little weird that their first assumption from the way we were talking about each other was that we were dating?"

"I don't know," Laura said. "Maybe it's a little weird."

"Yeah," Ross said softly. "Maybe."

The duo stayed quiet for the rest of the train ride, the exhaustion from a long day of traveling finally setting in.

The train finally arrived at their stop, Ross helped Laura retrieve her luggage before retriving his own as the pair exited the train.

They made their way to Laura's apartment, neither ever vocalizing that that was their destination, yet they were both aware that that's where they would end up.

The winter snow swirled around in their faces, freezing their noses and chap ping their lips.

Ross glanced over at Laura.

She looked like an angel.

Well, an angel that had just spent all day on a flight and had clearly not changed out of the sweatpants they had worn to bed the night before.

But he didn't notice the wrinkled sweats or the bags under her eyes.

He saw that her long, dark hair was thrown up in a messy bun, her nose was as pink as a kitten's, and she had snowflakes clinging to her sinfully long eyelashes.

An angel.

He found himself holding his breath, overwhelmed by her beauty.

"Home at last," Laura sighed as they arrived at her building.

Ross shook his head and coughed, taking a deep breath to make up for the minute he had just spent not breathing because he had been too preoccupied staring at his friend.

"You okay?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ross reassured her. "Just ya know, winter air and all..."

Laura nodded understandingly before pushing the elevator button.

Once on Laura's floor, then air left the elevator and walked down the hallway, finally making it to her door.

"Thank you for waiting for me at the airport," Laura said, smiling up at him.

"It was no problem," Ross replied, suddenly feeling short of breath again as he gazed down into her eyes. "I had fun."

"Me too."

"Well..." Ross said slowly. "Goodnight Laura."

And without really thinking, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek, lingering perhaps just a few fractions of a second too long to be considered platonic.

Ross pulled away, gave her an awkward smile, then began to drag his suitcase back towards the elevator.

Laura raised a hand to her cheek where his lips had been just moments before.

"Goodnight," Laura said dreamily, so softly she didn't think she'd heard her from where he was.

But he did.

And he was unable to wipe the smile off his face the whole way home.

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